ABSTRACT
The idea of climate justice began taking shape in 1999 (Bruno et al. 1999). Various forums have contributed to the development of the concept, with various degrees of departure from mainstream discourses and approaches.' During COP 13 in Bali in 2007, a number ofNGOs exited the Climate Action Network to form a new movement called Climate Justice Now!, with a significantly more system-critical orientation. Today however climate justice encompasses a very large ensemble ofpositions. Indeed, it has become a central discursive element for a wide variety of actors, whose social and political visions are different, sometimes distant, and even conflicting. Mary Robinson's Climate Justice Foundation, 350.org, TckTckTck, Caritas, Pan African Alliance for Climate Justice, The Durban Climate Justice group, Climate Justice Now!, Time for Climate Justice movement: all these actors and organizations operate in the discursive field of climate justice. Over the years, the climate justice label, one may suspect, has been stretched very thin. To be sure, the core ofthe climatejustice movement remains rhetorically system-critical. However, as discussions within the movement show, questions have emerged as to the role of climate justice as a label. Is climate justice a "point of reference for a counter hegemony or [is it a] nebulous empty phrase?" ask Martina Austen and Philip Bedall, in a summary of a discussion held within the context of the BURO W orking Group on Social Ecology in 2010 (Austen and Bedall 2010, 2012). Indeed the question is extremely pertinent, more so today than ever. In Copenhagen, the climate justice idea has "exploded." From a largely critical concept, it has gone mainstream, and has become a central element ofthe Copenhagen spectacle, a global marketing campaign whose banners, posters, videos, and light plays have been splattered all over the city. Indeed, all over the world." Yet Copenhagen has also seen the sharpest system-critical actions and demonstrations for climate justice to date.'
